Odd Jobs

I’ve always been interested in different perspectives, so… I have worked as a journeyman carpenter, as an elementary teacher, as a journalist, as a web-site programmer, as a university instructor, as a newspaper obituary writer, as a full-time novelist, as a hospital chaplain in ER and ICU units, as a technical evangelist (for software, not for any particular religion — unless you consider Microsoft a religion), as a marketing manager for Fortune 500s, as a nonprofit development director focused on childbirth issues,and as a manager and of very smart teams, most recently in the software industry for Intel. Today, I like managing software teams full-time, writing part-time, and focusing especially on being a great husband and father.

Here are a few other odd and interesting accomplishments:

I have been trained and certified as a deep water stress & rescue diver.

I have earned my living as a full-time mime and as a paid professional actor for summer stock theatre.

I know enough about childbirth and labor that I can successfully assist in the delivery of a baby. I’ve done it twice so far, in home-births. Both mom and children are doing fine.

Three people have died in front of me. They were supposed to. Their time had come, and I prayed with them as they left.

I have learned three languages well enough to be competent.

I have forgotten most of my first language (Chinese).

I have bicycled 1,600 miles in 12 days flat. Over the course of my 20s, I bicycled nearly 25,000 miles. I am a competent bicycle mechanic.

I have summited the tallest mountain in the continental United States – Mt. Whitney – along with various other peaks on the West Coast (Mt. St. Helens, Rainier, etc.)